Leica news, before it happens

Photokina is the biggest photography equipment show in the world and it takes place every two years in Cologne, Germany. For Leica Camera AG, this is their “home turf” – Solms is 150km/100miles away from Cologne. As Rudi Spiller mentioned on the last financial report, Leica has used Photokina to make some major announcements in the past: in 2008 for example, they announced 9 different products:

• Leica C-Lux 3
• Leica Dlux 4
• Leica M8.2
• Leica S2
• Leica Noctilux 50 mm f/0.95 ASPH
• Leica Summilux 21 mm f/1.4 ASPH
• Leica Summilux 24 mm f/1.4 ASPH
• Leica Elmar 24 mm f/3.8 ASPH
• and the digital projector Leica Pradovit D-1200

Here are the current speculations/rumors/expectations on what Leica will announce at Photokina 2010 (of course some of the listed products may get announced at a later date, others may be completely wrong):

• Leica D-Lux 5: this is a given, considering previous release patterns and the fact that Panasonic already announced their LX5 version. I do not expect another point and shoot camera from Leica, since the V-Lux 20 was released just few months ago.

• Update: Leica V-Lux 2 – it will be based on the Panasonic Lumix FZ100.

• Leica M9 update (maybe M9.2): similar to the M8.2 update, the M9.2 will probably offer sapphire glass and few other minor improvements. Update: the M9 update could actually be a titanium limited edition.

• New Leica R-solution: I believe this will be the big announcement from Leica this year. They have already promised a R-lenses solution. The only rumor I have received, pointed to some kind of a Leica EVIL camera that will be released with a new set of lenses, but will work also with old R glass.

• Leica X1: the rumor is that Leica is working on a X model with a zoom, but I doubt it will be announced this year during Photokina  (the X line is on probably on a 2 years refresh schedule). We may however see a black version of the Leica X1.

• Leica S2: if the rumors are true, an updated Leica S2.2 is expected (no idea what could be included in this update ).

• Some new M lenses: here the speculation can go wild, basically everything is possible.